CHICAGO | Post Office Redevelopment

[Busy Bee]

A lot of tacky talk here.

Has Trumpism infected SSP?

[UPChicago]

Originally Posted by k1052

"dated" is an understatement

Its more or less a restoration project so dated is what I'd expect from a 1921 building, the Merchandise Mart is also dated.

Edit* I see someone else covered this point first.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

well. this has certainly been a news filled day on this subject.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...513-story.html

guess maybe he knew he would never be able to see this through, given the timing

The deal with 601W Cos. closed for about $130 million, Mulryan said, but had previously been hampered by Davies' capricious personality. "If he had been involved he could have stopped (the deal)," Mulryan said. "I'm not saying he would have, but he had a habit all though his life of doing that on the eve of deals. He could be wild.

"We had some good laughs together," Mulryan said of Davies. "I'd told him he was out of his depth with the project and should sell, but he was laughing, joking and saying he'll outlast me."

Mulryan said when it came to selling the post office, Davies said, "I don't care if takes another 50 years!"

Yeah, nothing would have happened under Davies.

[marothisu]

Glad he sold it...

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

and when are either of those things ever going to happen? or are we prepared to let it continue to rot away when no other serious proposals hav been brought forward

casino could just as easily go on former michael reese land or something similar. rail terminal seems pie in the sky at this point.

A casino at Michael Reese would be a terrible idea. That's bound to be a suburban auto oriented hellhole. At the Post Office you squeeze it all into one existing, reasonably urban-friendly building where tourists can get to it easily via taxi and walking, and you avoid creating the kind of giant sprawling fortress that the Detroit casinos are.

If you don't make it easy for tourists, then you're just cannibalizing the same sad sack population of chronic local gamblers that currently drives out to Aurora and Hammond.

As for the rail terminal, it's really a matter of setting aside parts of the ground floor for a Metra concourse and ticket counter. Not sure how that is pie in the sky when Union Station's northern platforms already have a second concourse at Madison.
The upper floors would actually be much easier to lease for offices with a direct indoor connection to Metra platforms like Citicorp Center has.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Gotta place the casino near the ghetto for maximum poor tax!

Originally Posted by ardecila

Chopped up and weird additions? The building is already a chimera of weird additions. You just don't notice it because they're all clad in limestone. I don't have any problems conceptually with deleting or demolishing parts of the building as shown in the 2007 rendering.

The only reason it's not being carved away this time is because 601W thinks they can lure Fortune 500 companies to the building based on its overwhelming floor plates. Quite frankly, I don't see why a successful company would want such a clunky behemoth as its public face...

This is primarily an office development, which means it is just as hard to get off the ground as any John Buck or Hines tower, but without the sex appeal and efficiency of modern architecture.

Maybe because its perfectly located on top of the Blue Line and both Merra Stations which is what actually matters to F500 companies.

Originally Posted by k1052

Appeals to different tenants in an entirely different (and much tighter) submarket. If you could transport the old post office to a riverside plot in River North it would have been converted a decade ago.

Not really, the ownership situation with the Post Office has been the main hinderance. It's been owned only by the Feds and Davies, who was going to develop it again? Also, the superstructure alone in this building has $50-75/SF in value over new construction. That alone should make it competitive for corporates looking for value.

Originally Posted by k1052

Imagination is about all the project has going for it until somebody starts actually spending money.

I think purchasing it for $130 million counts as "spending money"...

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by ardecila

A casino at Michael Reese would be a terrible idea. That's bound to be a suburban auto oriented hellhole. At the Post Office you squeeze it all into one existing, reasonably urban-friendly building where tourists can get to it easily via taxi and walking, and you avoid creating the kind of giant sprawling fortress that the Detroit casinos are.

If you don't make it easy for tourists, then you're just cannibalizing the same sad sack population of chronic local gamblers that currently drives out to Aurora and Hammond.

As for the rail terminal, it's really a matter of setting aside parts of the ground floor for a Metra concourse and ticket counter. Not sure how that is pie in the sky when Union Station's northern platforms already have a second concourse at Madison.
The upper floors would actually be much easier to lease for offices with a direct indoor connection to Metra platforms like Citicorp Center has.

I agree with both about the Michael Reese site and
the usefullness of a train depot and/or casino.

The sad reality of it though is that that would require number of government agencies getting their act together and finding the funding mechanisms in a timely manner. Having a private owner waiting on such dysfunctional agencies to clear up their objectives and infighting may take many many more years. What private developer has time for that.

[i_am_kyry]

I always thought an Art Deco casino would be cool in the Post Office...

[k1052]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I think purchasing it for $130 million counts as "spending money"...

Just buying it isn't going to get leases signed. The new owner will have to be actually underway with significant renovation/restoration before any big companies are willing to sign on given the history.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by k1052

Just buying it isn't going to get leases signed. The new owner will have to be actually underway with significant renovation/restoration before any big companies are willing to sign on given the history.

Which is what their plan is, based on the information we have thus far. What is the problem?

[GregBear24]

I'm so f'n down with a casino in this building. If done right, it would only take one floor, and likely be so much better than the POS rivers casino. It would attract tourists like crazy, a little bit of riff raff, but mostly people with money who are either living in the city or visiting the city. The rest of the building could be used for office space, and the idea of creating a transit center of some kind is awesome. Point being, there are many possibilities for this building, and the increased amenities on the southern canal corridor as well as incoming residential development in the south loop makes this more viable than ever for redevelopment. I'm optimistic

[Kngkyle]

All of this casino talk is pointless. It isn't going to happen. We know what is going to happen, the new owner has told us. It isn't a casino.

[HomrQT]

An art deco casino is like something out of the movies.

[nomarandlee]

With some real forward movement with the OPO over the last few days it really does shape up a wild month. Finally real plans for the old Cook County Hospital. Imminent starts for Wanda, Riverline, and WP East. Finally some activity to speak of at dormant sites at Nordstroms and old Rezko river lot. An imminent design decision and location likely coming on the Obama library and Lucas possibly moving.

What other major news am I msising I can't think of. What a month or so.

[sloop.chi]

I will put my prediction down, McDonalds Chicago HQ will here. We could hear an announcement of their intentions to move downtown in the summer

[munchymunch]

Originally Posted by sloop.chi

i will put my prediction down, mcdonalds chicago hq will here. We could hear an announcement of their intentions to move downtown in the summer

+1

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

With some real forward movement with the OPO over the last few days it really does shape up a wild month. Finally real plans for the old Cook County Hospital. Imminent starts for Wanda, Riverline, and WP East. Finally some activity to speak of at dormant sites at Nordstroms and old Rezko river lot. An imminent design decision and location likely coming on the Obama library and Lucas possibly moving.

What other major news am I msising I can't think of. What a month or so.

I would imagine we'll hear something from Related on their plans for the Spire site in the not too distant future.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by sloop.chi

I will put my prediction down, McDonalds Chicago HQ will here. We could hear an announcement of their intentions to move downtown in the summer

I don't think the timing is right for McDonald's. My money would be them moving into Sears sometime in 2017 with an announcement within the next 3 months. Walgreens is a potential for the Post Office though.

[richb]

I doubt any large company would make it it's HQ. It would be best as something similar to Merchandise Mart, many many tenants of different sizes. Granted it will take twenty years for it to be like MM (it will take quite a while to fill that much space with smaller tenants) and it wouldn't likely have an industry of one type (even MM isn't that so much anymore).

Having more tenants of smaller sizes would make the building more stable financially long term and keep occupancy up. MM has never really had major problems with un-rented space, which older buildings can have. Having a large company make its HQ there would be flashy, but they would never stay long, and then you got a huge empty space again. Face it, large corporations still prefer new construction for HQ's.

The old Post Office would be great space for back office operations, company data centers, startups, call centers and small tech firms. Yeah, nothing flashy, but it would make for a profitable building. And it would fill it, and keep it mostly full.

[Mr Downtown]

Let's not overestimate how much of the Mart is tech—or office space of any kind. Without CoStar access, I'll guesstimate somewhere around 250,000 square feet is any kind of office space.

The old post office is 10 times that.